Isaacs owns up for Gladiators’ lukewarm showing

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Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Brave Gladiators auxiliary mentor Brian Isaacs says the team have themselves to blame for their early exit from this year’s Cosafa Women’s Championship, which took place in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
The multiple league title winning coach attributed Namibia’s elimination from the tourney to a bad approach and lack of goals, notably in their final two matches in Group C.
Reflecting on a somewhat disastrous journey to Zimbabwe, Isaacs stated in no uncertain terms that the entire team should take the blame for the group elimination, particularly in the final match against regional minnows Lesotho.
“To be quite honest, Lesotho were the weakest team in our group but we failed to beat them. Our approach in the final match was totally wrong because we watched them play against South Africa and should have known better.
“We learned that hosts Zimbabwe had finished on five points and so it was for us to win and take the best runner-up spot, ultimately a place in the semi-finals but we blew it. We totally forgot to play to our strength and that made it hard for us,” Isaacs charged.
The former Civics and Black Africa midfield general added that despite controlling the match, his charges failed to take their chances while they were also erratic in defence – making it easy for Lesotho.
“We controlled the game well and had so many chances to win but somehow could not find the back of the net. Suddenly we made two costly errors and Lesotho punished us from set pieces and grew in confidence as they held on for a win. We only have ourselves to blame for the defeat.”
About the South African result, Isaacs said despite Namibia having more time to prepare for the match, their opponents’ approach was more clinical.
“They started like a house on fire and were two goals up inside 10 minutes and that made it very difficult as our girls started to doubt their own abilities. Nonetheless, we managed to stabilize the ship and pulled a goal back before halftime. In the second half we were better but again conceded,” explained Isaacs.
New Era Reporter 2017-09-26 10:39:56 1 years ago